Method and apparatus for controlling sessions from one or more devices

ABSTRACT

An apparatus and mechanism to manage multi-modal real-time or quasi real-time sessions such as voice, video, instant messaging, or web-conferencing across multiple devices through a simple subscription to a session management service. A user can subscribe to the service from many devices (e.g. mobile device, desk phone, personal computer, internet appliance, internet TV, communication terminal, etc.) and through the service seamlessly move sessions back and forth between subscribed devices. In a preferred embodiment, a user utilizes a “virtual slider” in a simple “two touch” procedure to effectuate the movement of a communication session from one device to another device via the service.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation application of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 13/879,089, which is the United States nationalphase under 35 U.S.C. § 371 of PCT International Application No.PCT/US2011/058348, claiming priority to U.S. Provisional PatentApplication No. 61/419,412, filed on Dec. 3, 2010. The entirety of U.S.Provisional Patent Application No. 61/419,412 is incorporated herein byreference. The entirety of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/879,089is also incorporated by reference herein.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to communication systems and, moreparticularly, to a communication device application for such a devicethat enables a user to control multi-modal sessions from one or moredevices. Examples of communication devices may include computers,cellular phones, tablets, desktop computers, laptops, personal digitalassistants, or other terminal devices that utilize one or moreprocessors that run programs stored on memory connected to the one ormore processors to permit communication services to be provided to auser.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

People often engage in communication sessions with other people inconference sessions. For instance, users may participate in group textmessaging sessions, or instant messaging sessions. As another example,users may participate in conference calls that include audio or videoand audio communications using phones such as cellular phones orcomputers. In other circumstances, a user may have a communicationsession that involves only communicating with one other person in aphone call or via text messaging or via a video/audio communicationconnection using cellular phones or computers. The connections betweenthe users may be established over one or more networks. One example of acombined video and audio communication is a face time connection usingiPhone cellular phones made by Apple. Another example of such acommunication is a video conference utilizing a camera connected to acomputer having a network connection with at least one othercommunication session participant.

A user may participate in a communication session with one or more otherpeople via their different communication devices. In some circumstances,a user may use a non-mobile device, such as a desktop computer ordesktop phone, to participate in such a session. While the session is inprogress, something may occur that requires the user to move to a newlocation. Traditionally, that user would have to end his or herparticipation in that session using the desktop computer and use anotherdevice to rejoin the session. For instance, if the communication sessionwas a conference call, the user would have to rejoin the communicationsession using a different device, such as a mobile phone to continue toparticipate in the communication session.

The leaving or reentering of the session is typically undesirable as itcreates a delay in the ongoing communication session and can make otherparticipants wait for the user to rejoin the session. In somecircumstances, such an occurrence may require all the users to terminatetheir involvement in the session and then reinitiate a new session toaccommodate the needs of that one user.

A new device or system is needed to permit a user to continuecommunicating in an ongoing communication session while changing thedevice used to participate and communicate in that communicationsession. Preferably, such a device permits a user to control whichdevice is used to facilitate the user's participation in a communicationsession, such as a phone call, conference call, or video conferencewithout requiring that user to terminate his or her involvement in anongoing communication session or rejoin that session using anotherdevice.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A communication system is provided that includes a server, a firstcommunication device associated with the server and a secondcommunication device associated with the server. The first communicationdevice is engaged in a communication session with at least one othercommunication device. The second communication device communicates withthe server to move the communication session from the firstcommunication device to one of the second communication device and athird communication device associated with the user such that the secondor third communication device replaces the first communication device inthe communication session via the server. The at least one othercommunication device and the second or third communication device areconnected to participate in the communication session after thecommunication session is moved via the server.

The first, second and third communication devices may each be one of acellular phone, a mobile phone, a desktop phone, a computer, a mobilecomputer device, a laptop, or a television. The server may be one ormore computer devices that are connected to the first and secondcommunication devices via one or more network connections. The servermay also be connected to the third communication device via a networkconnection. The server may offer a service and have one or moredatabases that associate the user with the first and secondcommunication devices.

In some embodiments of the system, the server may periodically receivelocation data from the first and second communication devices thatidentify the locations of the first and second communication devices.The server may also periodically receive location data from the thirdcommunication device that identifies the location of the thirdcommunication device. The location data may be geographical locationdata or an address, such as a routable IP address or other address thatis usable for contacting or connecting with a communication device.

Preferably, the second communication device is able to effectuate a moveof the communication session via the server after receiving two discreteand separate inputs from a user. The first and second inputs may beeffected by a user touching a display of the second communication deviceor by otherwise providing input via one or more input devices to thesecond communication device.

A method for controlling a communication session is also provided. Themethod may include the steps of providing a server that hosts a serviceand offering an application for download to at least one communicationdevice. A plurality of communication devices may be subscribed to theservice. Each of the communication devices may be associated with auser. The server may receive a communication from one of thecommunication devices that request an ongoing and active communicationsession between a first communication device and another communicationdevice be moved so that the first communication device participating inthe communication session is replaced by the second or thirdcommunication device associated with the user. The server may move thecommunication session from the first communication device to the secondor third communication device so that the communication session remainsongoing but is between the second or third communication device and theother communication device after the communication session is moved.

Moving of the communication session preferably occurs seamlessly. Thecommunication session may be automatically answered at the targetdevice. The communication session may be seamless because there is nointerruption in the media path defining the connection with the othercommunication device and the connected party or parties may not see achange in the display provided by their communication device. Further,no user action may be required on the target device by the moving user.

Some embodiments of the method may include the second communicationdevice receiving a first input and a second input. The first input mayelect the communication session to be controlled by the user and secondinput may indicate that the communication session should be moved fromthe first communication device to the second communication device. Thesecond communication device may then send that communication to theserver for moving the communication session based on the second inputand in response to that received second input.

Embodiments of the method may also include steps occurring after thecommunication session is initially moved. For instance, the server mayreceive a communication from the third communication device requestingthat the ongoing and active communication session between the secondcommunication device and the other communication device be moved so thatthe second communication device is replaced by the third communicationdevice. The server may then move the communication session.Alternatively, the second communication device could send acommunication requesting the moving of the session to the thirdcommunication device and the server could move the session to the thirdcommunication device. As another alternative, the first communicationdevice could send a communication requesting the moving of the sessionfrom the second communication device to the third communication deviceor the first communication device and the server could move the sessionto the first or third communication device.

A method of controlling a communication session is also provided thatincludes the steps of providing a server hosting a service, offering anapplication for download to at least one communication device andsubscribing a plurality of communication devices to the service. Thecommunication devices comprise a first communication device and a secondcommunication device. The plurality of communication devices areassociated with a user. The server receives a communication from thesecond communication device requesting an ongoing and activecommunication session between the first communication device and anothercommunication device to be moved so that the first communication deviceparticipating in the communication session is replaced by another one ofthe plurality of communication devices associated with the user. Theserver moving the communication session from the first communicationdevice to another one of plurality of communication devices associatedwith the user so that the communication session remains ongoing but isbetween the another one of the communication devices associated with theuser and the other communication device after the communication sessionis moved.

A communication terminal is also provided. The communication terminalmay include a display unit, a memory unit, a transmission unit, and aprocessing unit. The processing unit may be connected to the displayunit memory unit, and the transmission unit. The processing unit may runan application stored on the memory unit so that the communicationterminal provides a display via the display unit to illustrate at leastone active communication session ongoing between a first communicationdevice and another device in response to a receipt of a first input. Thedisplay also displays at least one of an indicator for a secondcommunication device to which the communication session is moveable andan indicator for the communication terminal to which the activecommunication session is moveable. The processing unit may send amessage to at least one of a server, the first communication device, andthe second communication device via the transmission unit in response toreceiving a second input. The message may request that the communicationsession be moved from the first communication device to one of thesecond communication device and the communication terminal to effectuatea move of the communication session from the first communication deviceto the second communication device or the communication terminal.

The communication terminal, first communication device and secondcommunication and any other communication device may be communicationendpoints. Examples of such endpoints are mobile phones, cellularphones, mobile computer devices, laptops, desktop computers, personalcomputers, televisions, and desktop phones.

A non-transitory computer readable medium is also provided. The mediummay have an application stored thereon that defines instructions thatare executable by a processor of a communication device. Theinstructions may define a method that includes the steps of displacingan indicator identifying an active communication session between a firstcommunication device associated with a user and another communicationdevice, displaying an indicator identifying the first communicationdevice and a second communication device associated with the user thatis available for participating in the active communication session toreplace the first communication device, and sending a message to aserver to request that the active communication session be moved fromthe first communication device to the second communication device inresponse to receiving input identifying the second communication device.

Embodiments of the non-transitory computer readable medium may be memoryof the second communication device, memory of the first communicationdevice, flash memory, a DVD, a compact disc, or other storage medium.

In some embodiments of the medium, the method defined by theinstructions may further comprise periodically sending location data tothe server to identify a location of the communication device runningthe application. Additionally, the method defined by the instructionscould include other steps similar to the above referenced method steps,which are also discussed in more detail below with regard to theexemplary embodiments discussed below.

Other details, objects, and advantages of the invention will becomeapparent as the following description of certain present preferredembodiments thereof and certain present preferred methods of practicingthe same proceeds.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Present preferred devices, systems, and apparatuses for controllingsessions from one or more devices are shown in the accompanying drawingsand certain present preferred methods of practicing the same are alsoillustrated therein. It should be understood that like reference numbersused in the drawings may identity like components.

FIG. 1 is a front view of a first present preferred communication deviceillustrating the display of the device showing a session indicatorprovided by a widget being operated by the communications device thathas an interface displayed via the display of the device.

FIG. 1A is a front view of the first present preferred communicationdevice illustrating the display of the device showing a sessionindicator provided by an application being operated by thecommunications device that has an interface displayed via the display ofthe device. It should be appreciated that the session indicator may belocated in a status bar portion of the display of the device.

FIG. 1B is a front view of the first present preferred communicationdevice similar to FIG. 1A, which illustrates the display of the deviceshowing a session indicator provided by an application being operated bythe communications device that has an interface displayed via thedisplay of the device.

FIG. 2 is a view similar to FIG. 1, of the first present preferredcommunication device illustrating the session indicator being updated toreflect that at least one session is established.

FIG. 2A is a view similar to FIG. 1A of the first present preferredcommunication device illustrating the session indicator being updated toreflect that at least one session is established.

FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIGS. 1, 1A, 1B, and 2 illustrating oneexample of how a display of a communication device may present differentindicia to a user to permit the user to select an active communicationsession for controlling that communication session.

FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIGS. 1, 1A, 1B, 2 and 3 of the firstpresent preferred communication device illustrating the display ofindicia to a user that may be utilized to permit the user to provideinput to the device to control a session via the communications device.The user may provide input to the communications device to cause thecommunications device to adjust how a communication session iscontrolled. For instance, the user may provide input by touching thedisplay of the communications device to have an ongoing session usinganother communications device moved so that another device takes overthe handling of the session so that the user may begin using that otherdevice to continue communicating via the ongoing session.

FIG. 4A is a view similar to FIG. 4 of the first present preferredcommunication device illustrating another type of display of indicia toa user that may be utilized to permit the user to provide input to thedevice to control a session via the communications device.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing a present preferred communicationsystem.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a present preferred communications device.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PRESENT PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Embodiments of our communication device may include an applicationstored on memory of the communication device so that one or moreprocessors of the communication device may run the application stored inthe memory. The memory that contains the application may benon-transitory memory. The communication device may be considered aterminal, an endpoint, a terminal device or a communication terminaldevice.

The application may be configured so that a device running theapplication can provide or help provide a communication sessionmanagement service that enables a user to control multi-modal sessionsfrom one or more devices when run on the communications device via oneor more processors of that device. Preferably, the application isconfigured so that a user interface is displayed to a user via thescreen or display of the communications device running the application.An example of such a display may be seen in FIGS. 1, 1A, 1B, 2, and 2A,which illustrate a display showing whether any active communicationsessions are in progress. In FIGS. 1, 1A, and 1B the display has anindicator that has a first color to illustrate no session is in progressand in FIGS. 2 and 2A the display shows the indicator in a differentcolor to show that a communication session is active, or in progress.The icon may be shown in a background of the display or may be shown ina status bar provided at a top, bottom, or side of the display.Alternatively, the indicator may be an icon that is displayed on ascreen that is made visible to a user. The icon may be displayed one waywhen there is not an active communication session using one or moreregistered devices and may be displayed differently to indicate that acommunication session is active, such as by periodically blinking whenan active session is in progress. As other alternatives, a differenticon or a change in shape of the same icon could be used to indicate asession is active.

Preferably, the interface that is displayed may be configured to utilizea virtual slider that may be moved by a user using a finger to press onthe display screen and slide his or her finger along that screen toprovide input to the application to effectuate a moving of acommunication session. For instance, as may be appreciated from FIG. 3 auser may touch an icon shown on the screen of the device or click thaticon shown on the display of a device using a mouse, a remote control,or other input device to identify an active session that the user wouldlike to move from one device to another device. The touching of thaticon may evoke the application to cause the communications device todisplay a virtual sliding mechanism that may be touched and manipulatedby the user via the screen of the device to permit the user to provideinput by sliding his or her finger along the screen of the device fromone icon to another icon to move the session to another device. Thesliding of the user's finger may move from adjacent one iconrepresenting a device currently handling an active communication sessionto another device the user wants to which the user wants to move thecommunication session. For instance, the display of the communicationdevice may subsequently show a virtual slider mechanism that a user maypress a finger on and slide a finger along to actuate movement of thesession to the other device as may be understood from FIG. 4. As anotheralternative, a user may touch the portion of the screen on which an iconrepresenting an active communication session being handled by a firstdevice and move his or her finger on the screen to another iconrepresenting another device, such as a cell phone, to effectuate a moveof the active communication session, as may be appreciated from FIG. 4A.The provided input may be configured to cause the communication deviceto cause an active communication session to be moved from one device toanother seamlessly so that the user may continue to participate in thecommunication session, but use a different device to participate in thatongoing communication session. The different device may replace thedevice originally used by the user to participate in the ongoingcommunication session. The seamless moving of the communication sessionmay occur so that there is no interruption in the media path definingthe connection with the other communication device or devices involvedin the active communication session and the connected party or partiesmay not see a change in the display provided by their communicationdevice(s) when or after the communication session is used to anotherdevice associated with the user. Further, no user action may be requiredon the target device by the user providing the input to effectuate themove of the active communication session.

For example, a user that is participating in a video conference callfrom her personal computer at work may simply use the application onanother communication device, such as a cellular phone, to move thevideo call from her computer to her cellular phone by using her cellularphone as the controlling device to seamlessly move the communicationsession to the cellular phone via the application so that the cellularphone replaces the personal computer in the communication session. Ifthe cellular phone does not provide video call services, the moving ofthe communication session to the cellular phone may also act to adjustthe scope of communications transmittable by the user from video andaudio to just audio. This will occur when, the conference connectionprovided to the user via the cellular phone only permits audiocommunications to occur in the communication session after the handlingof the session is moved to the cellular phone.

The user's cellular phone may be configured to permit the user tocontrol which device is used to participate in an ongoing communicationsession by utilizing an interface that only inquires relatively simpleinput from the user. For instance, a communications device may utilize atouch screen that displays an icon that may be slid by a user touchingthe icon and sliding the icon on the screen or sliding his or her fingerfrom an icon representing one device to an icon representing anotherdevice to control which communication device handles a communicationsession. For instance, a user may utilize a virtual slider to move avideo call from a personal computer to a voice call on a mobile phonewithout requiring any other user actions such as dialing or answeringthe call on the mobile phone.

Of course, the user may utilize the same procedure for usingcommunication device to move the handling of a session back to thepersonal computer or to anther device. For instance, the user may againuse the “virtual slider” to actuate movement of the voice call from themobile phone to a video call handled by a high definition TV connectedto a camera, or a video call handled by a personal computer deviceconfigured for supporting video calls via a microphone and cameraconnected to the computer.

The application on the communication device may permit the communicationdevice to communicate with a session management service to automaticallydetect a proximity between other devices, such as televisions orcomputers and permit the communication device to add the television orcomputers as an available device for the communication sessions. Thenthe user may seamlessly move the communication session to thetelevision, computer, or other newly available device by utilizing thevirtual slider mechanism. For instance, after the television is detectedby the communication device and added as a device that may handle acommunication session, the user may use the application on thecommunication device to actuate the slider by causing the slider to movefrom an icon representing his communication device to an iconrepresenting the television to move a communication session to thetelevision. This functionality may enable the user to seamlessly move or“slide” the call from the cellular phone to the television.

In some embodiments, the communication device may be configured to onlyprovide a display of icons representing other communication devices thatare detected as being within a predetermined proximity of thecommunication device as being available for moving an activecommunication session. A user may then be limited to only sliding a callfrom one device to another device that is detected as being within thispredetermined distance. The predetermined distance may be any of anumber of different preselected distances, such as three meters, fivemeters, or thirty meters.

Subscription to the session management service may be done bydownloading the client application from a public or private applicationstore accessible via a network connection, such as an internetconnection, to a communication device. When the application isdownloaded onto the device and subsequently installed, the applicationmay be run by the device so that the user may utilize the device tosubscribe to a service utilizing a sign-in procedure with a useraccount, and password. The sign-in procedure may be provided via aconnection, formed over a network between the device and a serverhosting the service. A user may supply input to the device forcommunicating to the server. The input may include data that identifiesa user account and user access code, such as a password. The service maybe configured so that no further information is necessary to be enteredby the user for use of the service via the application run by thecommunication device. The sign in procedure at the device may utilizecommunications with the server hosting the service so that the device isautomatically provisioned for the service and enabled to be used tomake, receive, or move multi-modal real-time sessions via the service.

Examples of embodiments of the application that may be utilized in acommunication device includes applications that define a user interfacefor a screen of the communications device. The application may be awidget which may be implemented as a Microsoft Windows operatingsoftware gadget, an Android operating software widget, an Apple OS Xoperating software dashboard widget, or other type of widget programthat is operable on a communication device. The application may beconfigured to cause the device to display an indicator to show if thereis an active communication session on one of the devices the user usedto sign in to the service so that the communication session may bemanaged by the user for moving communication sessions to other devicesthat were signed in to the service by the user.

If a user wants to manage an active session, he or she may do so bytouching the screen of the communication device or otherwise providinginput to the communication device to select an icon representing theactive communication session. The user may do this, for example, byactuating the application to provide a display showing the activesession as an icon representing the device currently handling thesession as well as other devices that may handle that communicationsession. The user may effect a move of the communication session toanother device by providing input to the communications device to movethe communication session to another device. The user may provide suchinput, for example, by using his or her finger to press on the iconrepresenting the active communication session on a current device andsliding the finger to another icon representing another device. The useof such a “virtual slider” can provide the input to the communicationsdevice to cause the communications device to effect a movement of thecommunication session from the current device to the other user selecteddevice via communications with the service hosted by the server. Itshould be appreciated that the communications exchanged between thecommunication device and the server hosting the service may be performedby an exchange of messages that are based on the input received by theuser to effectuate the moving of the communication session to thedesired device.

The application may be configured so that the display of thecommunications device may show a number of optional devices to whichcommunication session may be moved when the application is being run bythe communications device. The devices shown via the display mayinclude: the device with the active session and any devices that may bewithin the user's proximity. It should be understood that the devicesmay be shown as indicia, such as icons that represent the differentdevices or may be shown as other types of indicia such as words or textthat represent or correspond to the devices.

In some embodiments, a communication device that was subscribed to thesession management service can publish location data to the servicewhich in turn can be queried by the other devices. Location data can bebased on wireless access point, IP address, IP subnet, GPS data, mobileservice provider, or other data. Subscribed devices may publish theirlocation data by communicating that data to one or more servers thathost the service. The location data may be communicated on a periodicbasis or based on predetermined time intervals, such as any time thedevice is activated, or after a certain time period has been passedsince the last time the device transmitted such data.

The location data of the devices may also or alternatively be providedto the service in response to a query sent by one or more servershosting the service. The queries may be sent at predetermined timeintervals or on a periodic basis. The location data obtained by theservice may be used to identify when a particular device is within apredefined distance or a certain proximity of other devices for moving acommunication session to those devices. The service may send one or moremessages to a communication device that informs the communication deviceof the proximity of other devices based on the last known location ofthose devices.

Referring to FIGS. 5-6, a communication system 1 may be configured toinclude a service offered by one or more servers 3. The service may beaccessible via a network 2 by multiple different communication terminaldevices 31. The communication terminal devices may be Session InitiationProtocol (“SIP”) endpoints or other types of endpoints. Each of thecommunication terminal devices may include a housing that has a displayunit 33 that is connected to the processor unit 32 of the communicationterminal device 31. Alternatively, the display unit 33 may be a separatedevice connected to the processor unit 32. An example of such anembodiment may be a desktop computer. The display unit 33 may include amonitor or a liquid crystal display.

The processor unit 32 may be connected to the display unit 33, memory34, and a transceiver unit 36. The memory 34 may include interconnectedmemory or one or more memory units connected to the processor unit. Theprocessor unit 32 may include a microprocessor or multipleinterconnected microprocessors or other types of processing units. Thetransceiver unit 36 may include a receiver unit 36 a and a transmissionunit 36 b. One or more input devices 41 may be connected to the terminaldevice so that a user may provide input to the device. Of course, thedisplay may be a touch screen that is configured to receive input viatouching of the display unit 33 by a user as well.

The service hosted by at least one server 3 may be accessible via aninternet connection to a number of communication terminal devicesassociated with the same user, such as a tablet 6, cellular phone 5,desktop phone 4, personal computer 7 and television 8. The television 8may be connected to periphery devices such as a camera 9 and microphone10 so that the television may be used for video communication sessionssuch as phone calls or video and audio communication sessions. Thepersonal computer 7 may be a desktop computer that is connected to acamera 11 and microphone 12 and a display device 13, which may be amonitor or liquid crystal display, for example. The personal, computermay be connected to the periphery devices so that those devices may beutilized by the computer to provide audio and video communicationsessions to a user. The computer may also be connected to one or moreinput devices (not shown), such as a mouse or keyboard for providinginput to the computer. The television 8 may be connected to a remotecontrol (not shown) to receive input from a user.

The desktop phone 4 and cellular phone 5 may include a screen and akeypad for displaying output and receiving input. The cellular phone mayhave a touch screen so that a user may provide input by touching orpressing on the screen. The tablet 6 may also include a touch screen ormay be connected to input devices for receiving input from a user. Thetable may have a screen for displaying output to a user. The cellularphone 5, desktop phone 4 and tablet 6 may each include one or morecameras to provide video communication capabilities in addition to anyaudio communication functionality offered by one or more microphones andone or more speakers of those devices.

A user may download an application from a server 18 that hosts a storethat offers applications for different types of devices. The applicationmay be downloaded and installed on each of the communication terminaldevices, such as the tablet 6, the cellular phone 5, the desktop phone4, the personal computer 7 and the television 8. The application may bestored on memory of each device so that a processing unit of each devicemay run the application stored on its memory. Examples of how a devicemay be subscribed to the service via the application may be appreciatedfrom U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/419,400. The entirety ofU.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/419,400 is incorporatedherein by reference.

The server 3 that hosts the service may maintain a database orcommunicate with a database that associates the user by a user name orother code with the devices owned by the user, such as the tablet 6, thecellular phone 5, the desktop phone 4, the personal computer 7 and thetelevision 8. The server may communicate with each communication deviceto obtain that device's location and communication session status. Thedevice's location may be identified by the device's network address,such as an IP address, by physical geographic coordinates, or byreference to a distance away from one of the other communicationdevices. For instance, the cellular phone 5 may be the reference pointand each of the other devices' location may be identified as being acertain distance and direction away from the cellular phone 5. Somedevices such as a desktop phone may have a fixed location which isstored in the database.

A user may seek to control a communication session using any of thedifferent communication devices via the application running on thosedevices. If a user is involved in an active communication session usingthe television 8, for example, the service hosted by the one or moreservers 3 may communicate with the television 8 so that the activecommunication session is displayable on the screen of the television.The user may utilize this display to initiate a move of thecommunication session to the user's cellular phone 5 or tablet 6. Forinstance, the user may provide input to the television to select anactive communication session identified via the application causing adisplay of such an active session. The selected session may then bedisplayed on the screen of the television along with other devices towhich the communication session may be moved. The other devices that aredisplayed may be displayed based on information provided to thetelevision 8 via the server 3 identifying the other availablecommunication devices the user may select. Such information may beprovided to the user along with the information concerning activecommunication sessions or may be provided to the communication deviceafter an active communication session to be managed is selected by auser.

A user may then select one of those other devices by selecting an iconof that device displayed on the television screen using an input device,such as a remote control. That selection of the new device may becommunicated to the service so that the selected device may then receivethe ongoing communication session from the service to handle the ongoingcommunication session via the service offered by the one or more servers3. For instance, if the user selected an icon representing the cellularphone 5, the communication session may be moved while ongoing to thecellular phone. If the cellular phone is not equipped for audio andvideo communication, the communication session handled by the cellularphone may be limited to only audio communications. After selecting thecellular phone 5 to which the active communication session should bemoved, the at least one server hosting the service may causetransmissions related to the communication session to be routed to thecellular phone 5 so that the cellular phone replaces the television inthe ongoing communication session.

Thereafter, if the user desires to move the ongoing communicationsession back to the television 8, the user may again actuate the activecommunication session by selecting a displayed icon representing thatsession on the display of his cellular phone 5. That icon may bedisplayable on the screen of the cellular phone 5 based on data thecellular phone 5 received from the one or more servers 3 of the serviceidentifying active communication sessions being handled by devicesassociated with the user. The user may make such a selection by touchingthe screen where the icon representing the active communication sessionis shown or by utilizing a keyboard or other input device of thecellular phone 5. Thereafter, the user may select a new device, such asthe television 8, to which the ongoing communication session is to bemoved by selecting an icon displayed on the screen of the cellular phonerepresenting that device. That selection may be communicated to theservice to actuate the at least one server 3 of the service to move thecommunication session back to the television 8. The moved communicationsession may be only in audio or may utilize video and audiocommunications via the peripheral devices connected to the television,such as the camera 9 and microphone 10.

As another example, a user may be engaged in an active chat sessionusing a messenger communication service using the tablet 6. The user maysubsequently desire to move the chat session to his personal computer 7so that files stored on memory local to the personal computer 7 may beshared via the chat session. The service may have communicated theactive chat session ongoing to the personal computer 7 so that a usermay go to the personal computer to select the active chat sessionassociated with the tablet 6 and move that chat session to the personalcomputer 7 by selecting the computer 7 as the destination to which thechat session should be moved. The service may subsequently receive thatselection and effectuate the move of the chat session to the computer 7so that the user may continue participating in the chat sessionutilizing the personal computer 7 instead of the table 6. In so doing,the service may control all of the signaling needed to effectuate themove of the communication session to ensure the move of thecommunication session is seamless. The signaling may be performed inaccordance with any of a number of suitable protocols, such as SessionInitiation Protocol (“SIP”). After the communication session is moved tothe personal computer 7, files stored locally on the personal computermay subsequently be shared via the chat session so that other devices ofother users participating in the chat session may receive copies of theshared files.

It should be understood that the moving of communication sessions mayoccur similarly to the examples provided above between any of thecellular phone 5, tablet 6, desktop phone 4, personal computer 7 ortelevision 8. Any of devices may initiate a moving of a communicationsession between one of these devices to another one of these devices.For instance, a first one of these devices associated with a user mayinitiate a move of a communication session from a second one of thesedevices associated with the user to a third one of these devicesassociated with the user, from that first device to another deviceassociated with the user, or from another device associated with theuser to that first device. Preferably, the communication sessions aremoved so that other participants in the communication session are unableto notice or detect the fact that a user moved the communication sessionto another device. That being said, if a user moved a communicationsession so that the user was no longer able to communicate via video,but only by audio, such a move may be noticeable by others.

It should be appreciated that embodiments of the communication systemand communication device discussed above may be modified to meetdifferent design objectives. For instance, the connectivity between acommunication device and the service hosted by one or more servers maybe direct or through multiple hops. For instance, a communication devicemay communicate to the server hosting the service by sending messages toan access point to be forwarded to the server through one or moregateways or other nodes within one or more networks. It should beunderstood that the access point may be, for example, a router, a basestation, or a switch. The connectivity may be automatically determinedbased on an automatic configuration mechanism of the device.

Embodiments of the present invention may help eliminate complications sothat a user may more easily use his or her devices for engaging incommunication sessions. For instance, a user need not know any deviceaddresses or numbers for configuring the other devices the user may haveto utilize embodiments of the invention. The user need only to downloadand install the application on multiple devices for associating thosedevices with the user. Upon installing the application, the user mayonly have to enter the user sign-on code and password for associatinghis device and having the association stored and recognized by theservice. Further, when moving a communication session, a user need notuse a device for rejoining any communication sessions or taking othertime consuming steps that create noticeable delays to communicationsession participants when moving a communication session.

It should be appreciated that the above discussed embodiments furtherprovide a user with the ability to effectuate a move of a communicationsession from one device to another device using a simple and easy to useprocess. In some embodiments, a user need only utilize two selections toquickly and easily effectuate a move of a communication session.

While certain present preferred embodiments of the communication device,communication system, and methods of making and using the same have beenshown and described above, it is to be distinctly understood that theinvention is not limited thereto but may be otherwise variously embodiedand practiced within the scope of the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of controlling a communication sessioncomprising: a first communication device displaying an indicatoridentifying an active communication session between a secondcommunication device and a third communication device, the secondcommunication device associated with a user, the first communicationdevice having a processor connected to a non-transitory computerreadable medium; the first communication device displaying an indicatoridentifying the second communication device and an indicator identifyinga fourth communication device associated with the user that is availablefor participating in the active communication session to replace thesecond communication device; and in response to receiving inputidentifying the fourth communication device, the first communicationdevice sending a message to a server to request that the activecommunication session be moved from the second communication device tothe fourth communication device.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein: thefirst communication device is not the second communication device and isnot the third communication device; and the method comprises: the firstcommunication device receiving the input identifying the fourthcommunication device while the indicator identifying the fourthcommunication device as being available for participating in the activecommunication session for participating in the active communicationsession to replace the second communication device is displayed by thefirst communication device.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the firstcommunication device is one of a cellular phone, a mobile phone, adesktop phone, a computer, a mobile computer device, and a television.4. The method of claim 3, wherein: the second communication device isone of a cellular phone, a mobile phone, a desktop phone, a computer, amobile computer device, and a television; the third communication deviceis one of a cellular phone, a mobile phone, a desktop phone, a computer,a mobile computer device, and a television; and the fourth communicationdevice is one of a cellular phone, a mobile phone, a desktop phone, acomputer, a mobile computer device, and a television.
 5. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the first communication device sending the message tothe server to request that the active communication session be movedfrom the second communication device to the fourth communication deviceis performed such that moving of the communication session from thesecond communication device to the fourth communication device occurssuch that the move is seamless so that the communication session isautomatically answered by the fourth communication device such thatthere is no interruption in a media path defining the connection withthe third communication device, no change in a display provided by thethird communication device occurs, and no user action is required on thesecond or third communication device to effect the move of thecommunication session.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the server iscomprised of at least one computer device and wherein the server isconnected to the first communication device via a network connection andthe server and the second communication device are connected via anetwork connection and the server and the fourth communication deviceare connected via a network connection.
 7. The method of claim 1,comprising: the server offering a service to the first communicationdevice, wherein the server has a database that associates the user withthe first communication device, the second communication device, and thefourth communication device.
 8. The method of claim 1, comprising: theserver periodically receiving location data from the first communicationdevice that identifies a location of the first communication device; theserver periodically receiving location data from the secondcommunication device that identifies a location of the secondcommunication device; and the server periodically receiving locationdata from the fourth communication device that identifies a location ofthe fourth communication device.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein: thefirst communication device displaying the indicator identifying theactive communication session between the second communication device andthe third communication device in response to receiving a first inputeffected by a user touching a display of the first communication device.10. The method of claim 1, wherein the input identifying the fourthcommunication device is provided via the user making a sliding motion ona display of the first communication device to effect a sliding of afirst displayed icon to a second displayed icon.
 11. The method of claim10, wherein the first displayed icon represents the fourth communicationdevice.
 12. The method of claim 10, wherein the first displayed iconrepresents the third communication device or the second communicationdevice.
 13. The method of claim 1, comprising: moving the communicationsession, wherein the communication session involves an exchange of asame type of media during the communication session prior to the movingof the communication session and after the communication session ismoved.
 14. A communication apparatus, comprising: a first communicationdevice associated with a user, the first communication device havinghardware comprising non-transitory memory; the first communicationdevice configured to display an indicator identifying an activecommunication session between a second communication device and a thirdcommunication device, the second communication device associated with auser; the first communication device configured to display an indicatoridentifying the second communication device and an indicator identifyinga fourth communication device associated with the user that is availablefor participating in the active communication session to replace thesecond communication device; and the first communication deviceconfigured to send a message to a server to request that the activecommunication session be moved from the second communication device tothe fourth communication device in response to receiving inputidentifying the fourth communication device as being a target device formoving of the active communication session.
 15. The communicationapparatus of claim 14, comprising: the server communicativelyconnectable to the first communication device.
 16. The communicationapparatus of claim 14, wherein: the first communication device isconfigured to send the message in response to receiving the input whilethe indicator identifying the fourth communication device as beingavailable for participating in the active communication session forparticipating in the active communication session to replace the secondcommunication device is displayed by the first communication device; andthe first communication device is one of a cellular phone, a mobilephone, a desktop phone, a computer, a mobile computer device, and atelevision.
 17. The communication apparatus of claim 16, comprising thesecond communication device and the fourth communication device; thesecond communication device being one of a cellular phone, a mobilephone, a desktop phone, a computer, a mobile computer device, and atelevision; and the fourth communication device being one of a cellularphone, a mobile phone, a desktop phone, a computer, a mobile computerdevice, and a television.
 18. The communication apparatus of claim 17,comprising: the server communicatively connectable to the firstcommunication device, the second communication device, and the fourthcommunication device, the server comprised of at least one computerdevice.
 19. The communication apparatus of claim 14, wherein the firstcommunication device is configured to display indicia to facilitatereceipt of the input identifying the fourth communication device by theuser making a sliding motion on a display of the first communicationdevice to effect a sliding of a first displayed icon to a seconddisplayed icon.
 20. The communication apparatus of claim 19, wherein thefirst displayed icon represents one of: the second communication device,the third communication device, and the fourth communication device; andwherein the message is configured to actuate the moving of thecommunication session such that the active communication session ismoved by the server such that the communication session involves anexchange of a same type of media during the communication session priorto the moving of the communication session and after the communicationsession is moved.